Student favorites among eateries to fail inspections

Rubamba, the restaurant that replaced Ay! Salsa this year, received a failing grade in the city's latest round of health inspections. Photo by Victor Kang.

More restaurants than normal failed New Haven’s latest round of health inspections, with nearly a fifth of the 49 restaurants visited receiving a failing grade according to the New Haven Independent.

In a wave of health inspections the last two weeks of June, inspectors graded nine restaurants at a score below 80, the minimum required to pass. While seven of the restaurants were given two weeks to make improvements, two — Thai Pan Asian with a 48 and La Molienda which received a 68 — were judged to pose an immediate threat to customers and forced to close their doors immediately.

Complaints against Thai Pan Asian and La Molienda included dirty floors, cockroaches in the restaurant, employees not washing their hands and rat droppings in the basement. After cleaning up, both restaurants are open again after passing additional inspections.

Among the other seven restaurants to fail the inspection were student favorites Christy’s, Kudeta, Zafra and Rubamba, which replaced student favorite Ay! Salsa earlier this year and received a score of 69.